Valentine's show vets that students care

Monte Vista Elementary School first-grader Adam Kekos creates a Valentine in the school library on Wednesday. Several students at some of the Murrieta schools are making Valentines for Vets to send to service people overseas and in hospitals across the country.
— Don Boomer

Monte Vista Elementary School first-grader Adam Kekos creates a Valentine in the school library on Wednesday. Several students at some of the Murrieta schools are making Valentines for Vets to send to service people overseas and in hospitals across the country.
— Don Boomer

Nicole Grending’s dad is a U.S. Marine who spent much of last year deployed oversees. He is one of 48 active-duty military parents with 110 students who attend Monte Vista Elementary School in Murrieta this year.

To honor Nicole’s dad and the thousands of other U.S. military veterans and service members overseas, students from several Murrieta schools are creating Valentine’s Day cards to spread good cheer for the Feb. 14 holiday. Nicole, a first-grader, and the other Monte Vista students are among those who are making cards in a district-wide contest called the Valentines for Vets Challenge.

On Wednesday morning, Nicole and her class visited their campus library to spend a little time crafting cards from pink, red and purple construction paper. The students colored stars, hearts and American flags on their cards.

“I’m going to make more hearts. I’m going to draw a soldier,” said 6-year-old Tate Hansen. “I drew a heart inside of a heart inside of a heart.”

Summer Westlind, also 6 and the daughter of a former Marine, drew a happy face inside a construction paper heart that glued on the card she was coloring. “Look, I made a crown on it,” Summer added, showing off her card.

Kelly Stottman, military chair for the Murrieta Valley Council PTA and the wife of an Air Force service member, and Murrieta Valley Council PTA President Mary Kelley organized the Valentines for Vets challenge. They receive help from the district’s military liaison at Camp Pendleton, School Liaison Officer Maria Swanson. This is the fourth year students in the Murrieta Valley Unified School District have participated in the challenge, which is part of a greater nationwide effort. Parents, teachers and school staff members are encouraged to participate too.

Last year, seven elementary schools and one middle school in the district participated and made 6,497 valentines. They were delivered to local VFWs, American Legion posts, retirement facilities, the Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, the veterans hospital in Loma Linda, the Veterans Home in Barstow, the VA hospital in San Diego, the Naval Medical Center in San Diego, Veterans Village of San Diego and the Wounded Warrior Battalion at Camp Pendleton. Three thousand valentines were delivered to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, according to the Murrieta Valley Council PTA.

This year, more Murrieta schools joined in. Each school and their staff and/or PTA are responsible for providing card supplies to their students. This year’s participating schools are: Alta Murrieta Elementary, Antelope Hills Elementary, Avaxat Elementary, Buchanan Elementary, E. Hale Curran Elementary, Rail Ranch Elementary, Tovashal Elementary, Monte Vista Elementary, Warm Springs Middle School, Vista Murrieta High School and Murrieta Mesa High School. The Valentines for Vets Challenge started Jan. 21 and concludes on Friday. The cards will be distributed to the same recipients and places as last year, along with a few more medical facilities and organizations Stottman has contacted.

Stottman challenged each school to beat its total from last year. “Our goal is to let our veterans know that we are thinking about them and that we appreciate their service and sacrifice,” she said in an email.